By
Samia Nakhoul, BEIRUT Lebanon
Lebanese rescue workers dug through the rubble looking for survivors of a powerful warehouse explosion that shook the capital Beirut, killing 78 people and injuring nearly 4,000 in a toll that officials expected to rise.
Tuesday’s blast at port
warehouses storing highly explosive material was the most powerful in years in
Beirut, already reeling from an economic crisis and a surge in coronavirus
infections.
President Michel Aoun said that
2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and bombs, had been
stored for six years at the port without safety measures, and he said that was
“unacceptable”.
He called for an emergency
cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Officials did not say what caused
the blaze that set off the blast. A security source and local media said it was
started by welding work being carried out on a hole in the warehouse.
“What we are witnessing is a huge
catastrophe,” the head of Lebanon’s Red Cross George Kettani told broadcaster
Mayadeen. “There are victims and casualties everywhere.”
Hours after the blast, which
struck shortly after 6 p.m. (1500 GMT), a fire still blazed in the port district,
casting an orange glow across the night sky as helicopters hovered and
ambulance sirens sounded across the capital.
The blast revived memories of a
1975-90 civil war and its aftermath, when Lebanese endured heavy shelling, car
bombings and Israeli air raids. Some residents thought an earthquake had
struck.
Dazed, weeping and injured people
walked through streets searching for relatives.
“The blast blew me off metres away. I was in a daze and was all covered in blood. It brought back the vision of another explosion I witnessed against the U.S. embassy in 1983,” said Huda Baroudi, a Beirut designer.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab promised
there would be accountability for the deadly blast at the “dangerous
warehouse”, adding “those responsible will pay the price.”
The U.S. embassy in Beirut warned
residents about reports of toxic gases released by the blast, urging people to
stay indoors and wear masks if available.
“There are many people missing.
People are asking the emergency department about their loved ones and it is
difficult to search at night because there is no electricity,” Health Minister
Hamad Hasan told Reuters.
Hasan said 78 people were killed
and nearly 4,000 injured.
Footage of the explosion shared
by residents on social media showed a column of smoke rising from the port,
followed by an enormous blast, sending a white cloud and a fireball into the
sky. Those filming the incident from high buildings 2 km (one mile) from the
port were thrown backwards by the shock.
Bleeding people were seen running
and shouting for help in clouds of smoke and dust in streets littered with
damaged buildings, flying debris, and wrecked cars and furniture.
The explosion occurred three days
before a U.N.-backed court is due to deliver a verdict in the trial of four
suspects from the Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah over a 2005 bombing which
killed former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and 21 others.
Hariri was killed by a huge truck
bomb on the same waterfront, about 2 km (about one mile) from the port.
Israeli officials said Israel,
which has fought several wars with Lebanon, had nothing to do with Tuesday’s
blast and said their country was ready to give humanitarian and medical
assistance. Shi’ite Iran, the main backer of Hezbollah, also offered support,
as did Tehran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia, a leading Sunni power.
Cyprus said it was ready to offer
medical aid. The explosion was heard throughout Cyprus, which is about 100
miles (160 km) away.
At a White House briefing, U.S. President Donald Trump indicated that the blast was a possible attack, but two U.S. officials said initial information contradicted Trump’s view. - Reuters
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